Outlook: Full-year sales of more than Euro 40.00 million targeted in 2011

Nuremberg, 17. November 2011 –hotel.de AG increased its sales by 12.8% from Euro 27.08 million to Euro 30.56 million in the first nine months of 2011. This performance was driven in particular by strong growth in the third quarter of 2011, in which hotel.de AG boosted its sales by 14.2% to Euro 11.57 million (previous year: Euro 10.13 million). International sales for the first nine months improved year-on-year by 12.5% from Euro 11.57 million to Euro 13.02 million. The international share of sales for this period amounted to 42.6% (previous year: 42.7%). For the third quarter alone, international sales grew year-on-year by 14.5% to Euro 5.03 million (previous year: Euro 4.40 million), accounting for a 43.5% share of total sales (previous year: 43.4%).

Ongoing positive development in booking volumes

hotel.de AG reported net commissionable booking volumes of Euro 103.71 million in the third quarter of the 2011 financial year, thus exceeding the Euro 100 million mark for the first time. This figure, which corresponds to the “new orders” received in the quarter under report, also for subsequent months, rose year-on-year by 22.5% (Q3 2010: Euro 84.65 million).

Driven by this positive sales performance, hotel.de AG generated EBIT of Euro 1.28 million (previous year: Euro 1.53 million) and net income for the period of Euro 1.17 million (previous year: Euro 1.11 million) in the third quarter of 2011. It should be noted that the comparative figures for the previous year were still positively influenced by one-off other operating income of Euro 0.30 million.

Comments Dr. Heinz Raufer, CEO of hotel.de AG, on the company’s performance in the third quarter: “Following somewhat weaker developments in the first half of the year, we significantly improved our earnings power once again in the third quarter. We see this as a confirmation and indication of the success of the investments we have made in consistently internationalising our business model and boosting our marketing. These may have impacted negatively on our earnings in the short term, but in the longer term the company clearly stands to benefit from these investments.”

In the first nine months of the 2011 financial year, hotel.de AG invested and charged to earnings a total of around Euro 3.46 million. Of this sum, Euro 2.63 million was invested as planned in the company’s internationalisation, including investments in the IT team, translations, cost allocations for the international offices and investments in international hotel procurement. To accelerate core IT projects expected to benefit sales, a further Euro 0.83 million was channelled into the hunt for suitable personnel to assist in IT development and in bringing forward the development of mobile applications.

In view of these factors, earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) for the first nine months of 2011 amounted to Euro 0.22 million (previous year: Euro 1.57 million). Net income for the period amounted to Euro 0.39 million, as against Euro 1.32 million in the previous year.

Outlook

A further strategic step in the company’s ongoing development was the acquisition by Hotel Reservation Service Robert Ragge GmbH of around 61.60% of the share capital and voting rights in hotel.de AG from the holdings of its founding shareholders in October 2011. Given increasingly tough competition in the portal market, this merger represents a logical step for both companies to boost their effectiveness in the hotly contested market, and thus to lay a firm foundation for further growth.

“We are convinced that this combination will further strengthen hotel.de’s position in the global hotel portal business and that it also harbours numerous benefits for hotel and booking customers alike,” commented Dr. Heinz Raufer with regard to the combination. In view of the company’s performance in the first nine months of 2011, the Management Board still expects to meet its target of generating sales growth in a low double-digit percentage range and increasing its full-year sales to more than Euro 40.00 million. Given the higher cost base due to the company’s growth, the Management Board further expects the company to generate EBIT at approximately the same level as in the previous year. A higher level of sales growth and disproportionate EBIT growth are budgeted for 2012.

The company’s nine-month report is available for downloading from the Investor Relations section of the company’s website at www.hotel.de.

About hotel.de AG

hotel.de AG operates a global hotel reservation service for companies and private customers at its www.hotel.de and www.hotel.info addresses. Here, customers can book accommodation in 37 languages at more than 210,000 hotels in all categories easily, fast and at optimal prices. More than 4 million private and corporate customers worldwide place their trust in this service to book their hotels. When deciding on hotels, they can refer to more than 1.5 million personal hotel evaluations. Well-known companies, such as BASF, SAP AG, Texas Instruments, Ernst & Young AG and many more already use hotel.de’s corporate customer application to book hotels for business travel. hotel.de AG has its headquarters in Nuremberg, as well as a branch in Hamm (Westphalia) and sales offices in the UK (London), France (Paris), Spain (Barcelona), Italy (Rom), China (Shanghai) and Singapore. Founded in 2001, the company went public in 2006. In 2010, it handled reservations with a volume of more than Euro 390 million.